India take unassailable 3-0 lead

Amit Mishra was the star with the ball while Virat Kohli led from the front with the bat as India defeated Zimbabwe by 7 wickets to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series. Mishra had the hosts in a spin, picking up 4/47 and received support from Mohammed Shami (2/25) as they bowled out Zimbabwe for a paltry 183. India got to the target in 35.3 overs with Kohli scoring an unbeaten 68 off 88 while the visitors also received good contributions from Shikhar Dhawan, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina.

The Indian openers started the chase on a positive note, with Dhawan and Rohit Sharma striking a few boundaries to get their side moving. While there were a couple of play-and-misses as well as edges, India were not too alarmed as the opening pair were settling down into a partnership. However, Rohit's attempt at chasing a wide delivery proved to be his downfall as he edged to Taylor to give debutant Michael Chinouya his maiden ODI wicket. Dhawan, meanwhile, was unaffected by the departure of Rohit (14) as he continued dealing in fours regularly to take India past 50. But in his attempt to score another boundary, the left-hander drove hard at a Chatara delivery, only to find Vusi Sibanda at cover point - an abrupt end to an outing that lasted for 32 balls and yielded 35 runs.

Zimbabwe would have hoped to make further inroads to jolt India but that was not to be as Kohli and Rayudu were involved in a steady partnership to keep India on course. Kohli and Rayudu went about their jobs in a calm manner, not taking too many risks as they helped India past the 100-mark in the 23rd over. Boundaries were as regular as the singles and twos for the 3rd-wicket pair, as they brought up the fifty-run partnership, their second in this series after their mammoth 159-run stand in the 1st ODI.

But even as India got closer to the target, another batsman fell against the run of play. This time it was Rayudu, who pushed at a Brian Vitori delivery without any footwork and ended up easing it to the hands of the bowler to depart on 33. Raina, who came in at number 5, started off positively to get to double figures for the first time in this series. Kohli then brought up his 24th ODI fifty in style by creaming Chinouya between mid-off and cover for four before scoring a massive six off the same bowler to bring the required runs below 20. The winning runs came off Raina's bat, who ended the game with a boundary off Chatara to remain undefeated on 28 off 18.

Earlier, India got off to a good start with the ball with Vinay Kumar and Shami dismissing the openers early. An under-pressure Vinay Kumar, who was eager to make an impact, got rid of the in-form Vusi Sibanda in the opening over - the batsman shimmied down the track and tried to go over the top but ended up giving a catch to Dhawan at cover. More success was in store for India as Sikandar Raza was tentative in trying to leave a Shami delivery and ended up outside-edging it to Dinesh Karthik to depart on 1.

The ball was moving in the air and off the pitch but Vinay got slightly greedy as he tried to bowl a lot fuller to find more swing and ended up over-pitching on several occasions and was made to pay for it. This was what the hosts would have hoped for, as a string of boundaries settled the nerves for Hamilton Masakadza and Brendan Taylor, who went about building a partnership to steady Zimbabwe. They maintained a good scoring rate, finding the boundaries from time to time along with the singles, two's and three's, as the pair raised a 50-run stand in the 12th over. India had a chance to end the partnership in the 13th over when Masakadza drove a Ravindra Jadeja delivery on the up, but a diving Kohli at cover put down a sharp chance despite getting both hands to the ball.

The partnership though could not prosper for long as the Zimbabwe skipper failed to keep a drive down and ended up giving Jaydev Unadkat his first wicket. Taylor (23) did not leave immediately, wanting to see if Shami had taken the catch cleanly at mid-off, but had to head back eventually. Things got from bad to worse for the hosts as Mishra, introduced in the 20th over, delivered back-to-back strikes to leave Zimbabwe reeling at 80/5. Masakadza was Mishra's first scalp as the right-hander outside-edged a flighted delivery to Karthik to depart on 38 before the leg-spinner trapped Malcom Waller (0) in front with a flattish delivery. The Taylor-led side were soon six down when Jadeja accounted for Chigumbura, dismissing him leg-before for 3.

Williams had to shoulder the responsibility of rescuing Zimbabwe, and he handled Mishra and Jadeja well while doing the bulk of the scoring in a 7th wicket stand worth 36 runs with Prosper Utseya to give Zimbabwe a fair chance of posting a competitive total. However, the African side were in tatters again as Karthik snapped up his third catch when Utseya (10) outside-edged Shami before the wicket-keeper combined with Jadeja to effect the run-out of Williams. The Indians were frustrated for a while by Tendai Chatara and Vitori, who added 33 for the 9th wicket before Mishra ended the stand by accounting for Vitori with Karthik taking his fourth catch. The leggie brought the Zimbabwe innings to a close by castling Chatara for 23 to restrict the hosts to a below-par total.

Virat Kohli on Wednesday said the tips he picked up from skipper MS Dhoni in the West Indies proved beneficial for him while leading a young Indian team in Zimbabwe, where they inflicted a 5-0 series whitewash on the hosts.

Demolished in the just-concluded ODI series against India, Zimbabwean players were sent to the rival dressing room by their coach Andy Waller to gather some cricketing tips from Virat Kohli and his men.